We flew from Palermo to Naples on the 50-minute flight. Our hotel is across from the main bus station, which was perfectly located. We took a shared taxi ($5 Euros each instead of a taxi at $35 or 40 Euros) from the airport to our hotel. Since our flight was at 6:40 AM, with a pickup at 4:00, we couldn’t check in at the hotel. We decided that we should get some laundry done and found a self-service laundromat nearby. An hour later, everything was ready. We took our bags with the clean clothes to the hotel and decided to pursue checking out the city until we could check in.
Being adventurous, we decided to take the subway to the port area to see if we could find some fish for lunch. Actually, navigating the subway system wasn’t too bad. Only three stops away, we had a short walk to the water, just in time to see three giant cruise ships expelling thousands of travelers who were being transported by giant buses for their day of touring the city, Mt. Vesuvius, or the Amalfi Coast. In our minds, following a tour guide with a tall sign in a group of forty or more, while wearing an earpiece or something dangling around our necks, would be torture.
There was a castle near the port, Castel Nuovo, that was very impressive… also crowded with tourists. We continued toward the water to check out the restaurants. Sadly, the one we chose had mediocre food at best and our cod selection was heavily breaded and tasteless. As we walked back to the subway, we saw some stunning buildings, like the Archeological Museum, the Piazza del Plebiscito featuring the Royal Palace, and the Palazzo Reale, just opposite the Piazza. These buildings are works of art in themselves. We did not have the time to visit any of them, but found the area one we will not soon forget.
After getting settled in our hotel room and relaxing, we decided that a taste of a “typical” Neapolitan pizza was in order. I put it in quotes because each part of Naples has its own idea of what pizza should be. No thin, crispy crust here. Because it was considered street food, a round pizza is folded twice into a wedge with layers of ingredients you can hold in your hand. Each bite feels like an entire meal. And, no pepperoni here. The closest thing to pepperoni is spicy salami, cut into strips. We tried it in our pizza, which was also covered in mozzarella and ricotta. For us, it was inedible. And, if you want a mixed green salad, you had better like arugula or iceberg lettuce. There were no other vegetables in the salad. So, even if Neapolitan cuisine didn’t suit us, it only made looking forward to our upcoming week of cooking classes even better!
Tomorrow, we scheduled a tour of Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi. It is supposed to be one of the most beautiful areas in Italy. Until then…